RE: Turkeys in South Dakota
gator, The first thing you have to deal with is what part of the season you want to hit. The first part can be snow storms that will stop all hunters from getting off the main roads. I have seen a storm come in and there be trees down all over. Getting into the 3rd week the weather changes and its is less likely to come into these storms.
There is all sorts of places to stay in the area. I stayed one year at Pine Rest cabins. They were very nice people and you target being in the midle range of the hills allowing you to cut down on traveling one way or the other.
There is a lot of open area there and also some think deep old canyons. These birds tend to be flocked up in the early part and at most times you can have a number of gobblers standing in front of you. They do have a very bad habit of moving once they flydown. Merriams travel and fast. being in shape is a good plan because you may have to climb up a hill 1500 feet to get around them. Load calls such as tubes, paddle box calls are good to get volume out and get the intrest of these traveling toms.
If I was to head back I would spend or start my energy near Hotsprings and work my way up the hills. You want to travel light as possible when hunting as sometimes you can put miles on walking the land. If you can drive some of the back roads that the Blacks have to offer , you can scout from the truck. Its a good idea to get a map of the hills because there is spotted private land throughout the hills as well. You should not have any problem finding birds, and I can tell you that SD has some of the best people in the States as when asked they will go out of their way to help you.
I really liked the hunt there and would not blink an eye to go back...BT